LAT: Islamic Slant in Iraq Charter Decried

[DeepModem Mom]

Islamic Slant in Charter Decried
Iraqi secularists fear that religious hard-liners will gain strength, and rights may erode, from the draft constitution's endorsement of Islam.

By Edmund Sanders, Times Staff Writer


BAGHDAD — As Iraq's transitional National Assembly prepares to approve a new draft constitution as early as today, legal experts and some political leaders warned Wednesday that the charter's explicit endorsement of Islam could give religious hard-liners a tight grasp on a country that was once one of the Middle East's most secular.

In an effort to strike a compromise between the nation's religious and secular communities, Iraq's proposed constitution reserves a central place for Islamic law in the legal system while safeguarding personal freedoms and democracy.

But the text's ambiguous language and apparently conflicting provisions left neither side particularly happy, and if approved, the document probably will be the subject of heated debate in Iraqi courts for years to come.

For instance, the draft constitution makes Islam the "official religion" of Iraq and "a main source" of law rather than "the" source, as many Shiite conservatives sought. But secularists remain concerned about a clause that prohibits any law that "contradicts the undisputed rules of Islam."

Critics fear the provision could be used by religious hard-liners to impose a strict version of Islamic law, such as banning alcohol, restricting women's rights and imposing harsh Koranic punishments such as stoning....


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-islam25aug25,0,7331155.story?coll=la-home-world

[krkaufman]

1. No other outcome was possible from the outset...

... short of imposing a replacement authoritarian regime.

[Melodybe]

2. Damn it, the fundies will never get to Rapture if we don't convert the

Middle East.

[krkaufman]

4. Yep, but just because you bring about the end of times....

.... doesn't mean it's the End of Times.

[Mari333]

3. let theocracy reign. we all knew this would happen.

[LibertyLover]

5. Iraq's constitution

Why is there any surprise about this outcome? Did the Bush gang really expect that the Iraqi National Assembly was going to produce something like the Japanese constitution written by Douglas McArthur's staff that was, dare I use the "L" word? - liberal and non-theistic?

Critics fear that the provision prohibiting any law tha contridicts the undisputed rules of Islam COULD be used to impose a strict Islamic law regime? How about WILL be used.

Oy - some days I just want to scream about the lack of common sense this administration exhibits.

[Southsideirish]

6. Their stupidity boggles the mind.

[PurityOfEssence]

7. It's just incredible, isn't it?

Instead of having Islam be THE source of all laws, the compromise is that it will be A source of laws, but all laws will have to stand the test of whether they're acceptable to the hardcore certainty nuts.

What does this mean? It means it's a theocracy. Duh.

We deposed a secular regime that guaranteed the rights of Christians for fundamentalist primitiveness. What do the missionaries think about all this?

Everything about this administration is appearance. Reality isn't even addressed for mere reference. It's a democracy, even though those who subscribe to one guess belong than others. That's just mind-boggling crap.

This is a shocking failure, and it's only going to get worse.

[Igel]

8. Self-determination's good unless they determine the wrong

things for themselves, then imposed constitutions are good. What a great paradox.

The problem I see is the constitution of the supreme court: secular and Shari'a experts, no further word on the percentages of either. Most of the rest of it is an ambiguous as you could want.

I'm also undecided concerning communalism in the constitution. If it's there, I missed it. It strikes me as a horrible practice that I loathe and would love to see universally stricken from the laws of every nation, but that nonetheless needs to continue.